Portraits of Victims Emerge in Fort Hood Rampage

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April 4, 2014, 2:10 PM GMT / Updated April 4, 2014, 9:20 PM GMT

One died trying to prevent a gunman’s rampage at Fort Hood from becoming much bloodier, according to his fiancée. Another was a counselor on base and a father of two. Another was a 20-year veteran who planned to retire this year.

Ferguson, from Mulberry, Fla., played football, baseball and basketball and ran track in high school, WTSP reported. At the high school where Ferguson graduated in 1993, students observed a moment of silence on Friday before the pledge of allegiance.

Army Sgt. Timothy Owens, 37, was an Illinois native who was once stationed in Kuwait. Owens had also served in Iraq. His mother, Mary Louise Muntean, told NBC Chicago that she never imagined he would die in an act of violence on American soil.

“I can’t believe this has happened. I just can’t,” the mother said. “I just talked to him Sunday night.”

U.S. Army Sgt. Tim Owens of Effingham, Ill.Courtesy of Owens family via AP

Owens had recently remarried and was the father of two teenagers, the station reported. His mother said: “I’m very proud of him because he was fighting for our country.”

The third victim was Carlos Lazaney Rodriguez, 38, of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, who had served in Kuwait and Iraq. His city's Mayor Carlos Mendez Martinez told NBC News Friday that he had spoken to an aunt of Lazaney’s and that the family had been notified in Tampa, Fla.

“They are an excellent family, really good people,” he said. “And what’s so sad is that he was 38 years old and had joined the military since he was 18. He was going to retire at the end of the year. It is so sad.”

One of his aunts, Teresa Rodriguez, told Telemundo in Spanish: “It never crossed my mind that his destiny was in that place. And his destiny took a turn for the worst, to die in the place where he loved to be. He loved the Army.”